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Statism is Utopian

Francois Tremblay wrote a little essay titled Statism is Utopian, explaining why it is incorrect to label anarcho-capitalism as Utopian and why Statism is the societal system that is least likely to generate a good outcome for most people—certainly the system least likely to be remotely just or moral (which is why it will not work out well for the society as a whole). I encourage non-libertarians to read and consider it carefully. You never know what you might agree with a loony libertarian about. Here are some astute passages to pique your interest:

Unfortunately, we have been so conditioned to believe that centralized authorities are necessary that often Anarchy is confused with political nihilism. Yet nothing is farther from the truth. Absolutism and totalitarianism are close to nihilism: once we accept the validity of centralized control, then “anything goes.” Whatever the government does becomes ipso facto justified by the need for centralized control as a check on individual values. Anarchists completely reject this reasoning and uphold individual values as the only possible foundation for a functional society.

In fact, we precisely oppose the State because we believe that it exhibits all too human vices: aggression, greed, dishonesty, ignorance. The State exhibits these vices because it is composed of human beings who also have these vices, like all human beings possessing control and power over others. It is not that we need to have “the right people” in power or “the right class” in power: human nature itself is what is preventing statism from “working.”

The Anarchist argument is simple. If people are good, then we don’t need a government to enforce morality. If people are evil, then the people composing government are also evil, and being in government have the power to exploit others much more fully than a private individual could. If some people are good, and some people are evil, then we should desire very much to remove any concentration of power, since such a concentration would attract people who wish to control others—evil people—and give them that control.
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If we are to state the case clearly, we can say this. Statism is the belief that a group of people, who possess all the guns and all the legitimacy, able to make all the rules for itself, will not want to exploit its subjects. Instead, they will act completely altruistically and help fulfill the values of their subjects.

I know I like quoting people of all types, especially if they agree with me, but if I just go and quote half his blag post like that, you know I think very highly of that writing.

(You will also notice that I wrote a long comment on his post. It consists almost entirely of quotations. They’re very astute, by great libertarian writers and economists.)